


Learning Each Other

by busybee8



Category: Grey's Anatomy
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-06
Updated: 2019-03-06
Packaged: 2019-11-12 17:20:52
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,356
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18015113
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/busybee8/pseuds/busybee8
Summary: Inspired by the February snowstorms in Seattle... Nico is headstrong and does something stupid. Levi calls him out on some of his shit.





	Learning Each Other

Nico  
  
My eyes snap open. I automatically reach next to me for Levi, my hand hitting an empty pillow and cool sheets. As the fog of sleep clears, I remember that his shift started obscenely early, the chief’s attempt at getting ahead of the forecasted snow storm. He is already at the hospital, and I already miss him. I glance at the clock just as my phone buzzes. Levi’s sunny smile appears on my screen.  
  
“Mornin’, babe,” I say.  
  
“Hey you,” he says. “Have you looked out the window?”  
  
“Nope. Just woke up. Am I snowed in as predicted?” I can’t help but tease him.  
  
“Ha, ha,” he says. I can just see him rolling his eyes. “I know five inches of snow is nothing to you, Mr. New Yorker, but we never get that much here. There are like three snow plows and one bag of salt for the whole city.”  
  
“So I’ve heard,” I chuckle. “Busy morning in the pit then?”  
  
“Ugh, yeah. I’m just now getting my first break.”  
  
“You should get off the phone and go get something to eat.” He never eats enough before a shift.  
  
“I know, I know. I just needed to hear your voice for a minute.” I can’t help the grin that slips onto my face.  
  
“Miss you,” I say softly. He does that to me, brings out softness, tenderness.  
  
“Me too. Damn our schedules this week.”  
  
“Mmm,” I agree. “I’ll just have to maul you in an on-call room later. Now go eat.”  
  
“I will…” he sighs. “Seriously though, take the bus on 15th instead of walking down the hill to the light rail.”  
  
“Levi, I’ll be fine.”  
  
“I mean it, Nico! ONE bag of salt. THREE. Snow. plows. And the hills here are no joke...people call them hills, but they’re really foothills of Mt.…”  
  
I can’t help but laugh as he continues to babble, his voice rising. “Really, I’ll be fine, babe. I love you. Now I’m hanging up so you go eat.”  
  
“Love you, too.” I hear him say as I disconnect. I shake my head, as I start calculating how long it will be until I can pull him into an on-call room.  
  
\---  
  
Levi  
  
I’m in the pit, splinting my third sprained wrist of the morning. Mrs. Johnson is a sweet lady who came in wearing a floral rain coat and a wide brimmed hat that looked fit for Sunday church. The granddaughter who brought her in is glued to her cell phone, so I’ve been trying to make friendly conversation as I wind the gauze around her forearm and wrist.  
  
“When I bake challah, I always refrigerate the dough after it rises. Makes it easier to work with,” I hear myself saying.  
  
“Oh, aren’t you a nice one, and you bake too,” she says. She turns to her granddaughter, and I know what’s coming next. “You should date him, Julie.”  
  
“Barking up the wrong tree, Gram,” Julie says under her breath, eyes remaining glued to the screen.  
  
“Alright Mrs. Johnson, you are all set,” I say, pulling my gloves off. “Maybe stay inside until someone has the chance to shovel the sidewalks in your neighborhood.”  
  
“Thank you, Dr. Schmitt,” she says smiling as I walk away.  
  
I’ll never get tired of hearing people call me that. As I walk past the nurse’s station, one of the nurses calls out, “Dr. Schmitt, ortho is looking for you.”  
  
“Thanks, I’ll head up there.” It’s odd though. I didn’t get a text from Nico, but his shift did start over an hour ago. Three minutes later I’m walking by another nurse’s station – ortho this time. “I heard someone is looking for me?” Nurses know everything.  
  
“Room 402, Dr. Schmitt,” Dani, a nurse with short spikey hair, says.  
  
I knock quietly on the door before opening it, prepared to introduce myself to a patient. Dr. Lincoln turns and looks at me over his shoulder saying, “Hey, it’s about time.” I stop short when I see who is sitting on the exam table. Nico. My Nico. Immediately my whole body tenses.  
  
“What happened? Are you okay?” the words come out in a rush as I do a quick appraisal, scanning his body. No blood. Everything seems intact.  
  
“What the hell, Linc! I told you not to page him,” Nico says.  
  
“I didn’t!” Linc holds his hands in front of himself innocently. “I may have mentioned something to Dani…”  
  
“Okay, someone needs to start talking. Right. NOW,” I say loudly. I’m going to completely lose it.  
  
“Your boyfriend here tried to ski down the hill by his apartment. Without skies.”  
  
Nico groans, looking up at me sheepishly. “I’m fine, Levi. Really. It’s just a sprain,” he says as he holds up his left wrist.  
  
“Which we just confirmed with an x-ray,” Linc states.  
  
“An x-ray we didn’t need, because I knew it was a sprain.”  
  
“Doctors make the worst patients,” Linc sighs as he stands up to leave. “Schmitt, you splint any wrists lately?”  
  
“Only three so far this morning. All older folks over the age of fifty, and one of whom is being observed for a concussion,” I practically snap, looking at Nico pointedly on that last line.  
  
“Well it sounds like you’ve got this,” Linc says with a wink as the door closes behind him.

\---  
  
Nico  
  
I mean, Levi is goddamn adorable when he’s mad at me. He gets bolder than usual and makes his characteristic funny comments, even if the tone is snippy. Don’t get me wrong. I don’t like that he’s upset, but he is just so cute. Even angry, I can’t help but adore him. I watch him move around the room. He hasn’t looked me in the eye since Linc left. He’s opening drawers and cabinets, gathering the supplies he needs, all the while his movements are stiff and abrupt.  
  
“I know you’re mad at me,” I say. He lets out a long breath as he sits on the stool in front of me, taking my forearm gently in his hand and aligning the splint. It’s been nearly a week since we’ve had anything more than hurried make-out sessions in on-call rooms, or a few hours wrapped around each other in bed when our sleep schedules overlapped, so even this slight touch sends shivers down my spine. He still doesn’t meet my gaze, so I plow on. “I almost saved myself from fully falling, but gravity was against me… I really am fine. I’ll be back to work within a week.” Silence. He begins to wrap the gauze around, starting at my forearm and working his way to my hand and securing the whole thing with expert precision. Finally, I can’t take his silence anymore. I reach out and tip his chin up, encouraging him to look up at me. His gaze is guarded, and I don’t like it one bit. “Levi, I’m fine,” I say.  
  
“You’re fine?” he snaps, pulling out of my reach. “Really? That’s why you’re sitting here as a patient instead of out there helping patients?”  
  
“Accidents happen. It’s part of life,” I hear myself say.  
  
“You could have broken it… or gotten a concussion! Did you even think about that at all?”  
  
“But I didn’t. Am I supposed to live my life worried about every bad thing that could possibly happen? Come on, you’re overreacting.”  
  
Levi looks at me wide-eyed like he can’t believe what he’s hearing. “You know what, I tried to tell you, but as usual, you didn’t listen…”  
  
“Oh, I see,” I cut in. “I’m supposed to ask you for permission to walk down a hill?”  
  
Levi opens his mouth to say something, but closes it again, his body rigid with frustration. “Right, and I’m the dramatic one…” he says almost to himself blowing out another harsh breath. He walks over to the door. He’s going to leave. The realization catches me so off guard that it takes me a second before I move. I manage to grab his arm right before he turns the knob to exit.  
  
“Levi, wait. Don’t leave like this,” I say.  
  
He looks right at me, “You know what, I have patients. I’d tell you to put ice on that, but why should I bother?” And with that, he closes the door behind him.  
  
\---  
  
Levi  
  
I’m debating whether to shower in the locker room or at home when I hear my phone buzz against the metal locker shelf. I assume it’s Nico. Again. He’s texted me several times and called once since I left him in the exam room.  
  
11:10am Nico: I should have a few minutes during your lunch break. On-call room on 3?  
  
12:20pm Nico: Okay, I’ll come find you in the cafeteria.  
  
3:11pm Nico: Look, I know you’re mad, but let’s talk about this.  
  
6:47pm Nico: Come over tonight when you’re off? I know it will be late, but I’d really like to see you… and talk.  
  
I should have written him back, but the day was crazy, and I’m completely exhausted. I’m coming off of a 24-hour shift during which I had a mere 90-minute nap in an on-call room. And I’m still pissed at him. Sighing I tap in my passcode and read the latest message.  
  
12:37am Nico: Levi? Your silence is really worrying me. Please at least let me know you’re okay.  
  
The idea of drifting off to sleep wrapped in his arms and waking up to him is so tempting that I almost cave.  
  
1:22am Levi: Too exhausted to talk. I’ll say things I’ll regret. Going to home. I’ll come over at 4 tomorrow like we planned.  
  
Nico 1:24am: Okay.  
  
Nico 1:27am: I love you.  
  
Maybe it’s a dick move, but I don’t respond.  
  
\---  
  
Nico  
  
All day I’ve been watching the minutes tick by on the clock. I slept like shit last night, so I’m hopped up on coffee. All I’ve wanted since Levi left me in the exam room the day before is to talk to him and hold him, but as it gets closer to four, I start rehashing our argument in my head. That plus I’m irritated that he took so long to respond to me yesterday. It’s not lost on me that he called his Mom’s house “home” for the first time in months. And when I texted, “I love you,” he didn’t text it back... By the time Levi messages me to tell me he’s downstairs, I’m agitated and feel like I can’t sit still.  
  
I open the door as soon as I hear footsteps in the hall. He slows slightly when he sees me peering out of the doorway. He gives me a weak smile as he approaches, his hands flapping against his sides as if he doesn’t know what to do with them.  
  
“It’s really good to see you,” I say.  
  
“You too,” he says, but his body is rigid. He looks away too quickly.  
  
“What do you want to drink?” I ask as he tosses his overnight bag on the floor and removes his coat and boots. At least he brought the overnight bag.  
  
“Uh, just water.”  
  
We head into the living room and sit on the couch still not touching each other. He’s looking at the ground. For the first time in our relationship, I don’t know what to say.  
  
“Sleep okay last night?” I ask.  
  
“Yeah, I really needed it,” he says biting his lower lip.  
  
I take a deep breath, “Look, I’m sorry about yesterday. I know you worry about me, and I get it. I’ll be more careful.”  
  
“Nico, of course I’m going to worry about you,” he says, meeting my gaze. “But that’s not what this is about.”  
  
“No?”  
  
“No.” He takes a deep breath and stares at me, he starts to talk, stops, and tries to start again. “I don’t know how to say this.” I feel my stomach sink. What does that mean? I can’t help but glance over at his overnight bag to make sure I didn’t imagine it.  
  
“You’re worrying me here, Levi.”  
  
“Sorry, I just… Look, you are really sweet, and thoughtful, and I know you care about me so much, and I love you. I really do, so that’s what makes this hard.”  
  
Alarm bells are going off in my brain, and I suddenly stand up. “What’s hard?” I ask, a note of panic coming through despite my best efforts to keep a level tone.  
  
Wide, green eyes snap up to mine. “No babe, it’s not what you’re thinking.”  
  
“Then what is it? Just tell me!” I practically snap, running a hand through my hair.  
  
“Look, I think sometimes you don’t take me seriously,” he finally says, all of the words coming out in a rush.  
  
“What? Of course I take you seriously. I’ve always taken you seriously.”  
  
“Just listen, okay?” he says, voice rising. “Just sit down right here and listen to me.”  
  
I take a breath and nod, sitting on the couch, one leg up so that I’m turned faced him. He looks down at his hands again, then looks up at me. “There’ve just been several times that I try to tell you something, give you advice, and you don’t follow it.” His voice is quiet this time, and it’s even more alarming than when he was snapping at me. “Like when I told you the best way to get to your cousin’s wedding last month, and you ignored me and we were twenty-five minutes late– “  
  
“That was–“ I cut in.  
  
“No interrupting,” he says, pointing at me. “Where was I? Oh yeah. The wedding, and when you wanted to order a spicy dish the other night and then you were up with heartburn at 3am. I could go on… And then there are times you really got hurt - the windstorm, the hill yesterday.“  
  
“Look, I’m not perfect! I make mistakes!” I hear the frustration coming through in my voice.  
  
“I know. But all of them could have been prevented, if you’d only listened to me.” This time when he meets my eyes, I see pain. He’s hurt. I’ve hurt him. It’s like a bucket of ice water’s been poured on me washing the irritation out of my system and suddenly all I want is to make it right. I take a breath.  
  
“Levi, I don’t understand,” I say, reaching out and softly touching his check. “What is this about?”  
  
He sighs. “Look, I don’t think you mean to do it, okay. It’s just that people always underestimate me, and I have to constantly work to prove them wrong.”  
  
“I’ve never…” I start to say, but the look he gives me, part annoyance, part sadness, stops me from continuing.  
  
“That’s just it, Nico. I know that you see me, more of me than anyone else ever has. And it means the world to me. What I’m saying is that, despite how much you care, how much you see me, I feel that you do underestimate me sometimes… not all the time, but still sometimes… and then when I try to talk about it with you, you make it sound like I’m overreacting or being emotional, and I…” he looks away, and he suddenly looks so tired and sad. It’s killing me. “I…I don’t want to have prove myself with you, too.”  
  
“Aw, babe,” I say tugging him against my chest and wrapping my arms around him. “I don’t want that either.” He takes a deep breath against me and finally wraps his arms around me. For a few minutes, we just sit there, holding each other.  
  
“Look, I’m really sorry. I know I can be a bit headstrong and sometimes I’m impulsive. I see how that could come across as me not taking you seriously. That’s never been my intention.” I pull back slightly, looking into his green eyes. “From the first day I met you, I thought you were the smartest, sweetest man. Then I got to know you better, and you’re sexy, and funny as hell, but most of all I really respect the way that you treat people around you.”  
  
“I-“ Levi starts, but I cut him off, holding my finger to his mouth, my face mere inches from his.  
  
“And,” I say, “I hear you. I need to be better about showing you that respect when you are offering advice. I’ve also got to keep that headstrong, impulsive side of me in check.”  
  
He just stares at me for a beat, then grabs my neck, pulling me into a passionate kiss, which he deepens when I involuntarily moan into his mouth. Suddenly we’re both moving, turning so that we’re fully facing each other, never breaking the contact of our lips. I lean into him, covering him with my body as he lies back. Suddenly he pulls back, rubbing his nose against mine. “I love you” he breaths.  
  
“I love you, too” I say, dropping a soft kiss on his lips.  
  
“Thanks for really listening to me. I mean, it took you long enough…” he says, playfully tapping my chest with his palm.  
  
I must look as remorseful as I feel because he gently cups my cheek. “Hey, apology accepted. I know how hard you can be on yourself. It’s really okay. We’re still learning each other.”  
  
“Well you’re a really good teacher,” I say, grinning at him.  
  
“Come here,” he says pulling me back down on top of him and pressing his lips against mine. When he finally releases my lips, he kisses his way up my jaw, nibbling the sensitive spot by my ear. “By the way, sometimes impulsive is good,” he whispers. His warm breath against my ear sends tingles down my body.  
  
“Yeah?”  
  
“Yeah. You don’t always have to keep it in check,” he says suggestively, eyes full of heat.  
  
“Is that so?” I say, smirking at him. In one swift movement, I climb off of him, grab his waist, and lift him fireman style over my shoulder.  
  
“Nico Kim, you put me down right now!” he shouts between giggles.  
  
I will do no such thing. I carry him into the bedroom and gently lie him down on the bed, easing myself on top of him. I don’t give him any time to recover. I start kissing his neck while my hands slide up his arms and I intertwine my fingers with his, holding his hands against the mattress. He groans, wrapping his legs around my waist. We start to grind against each other, but it isn’t enough. I want to feel him everywhere. “Nico,” Levi whispers in my ear, and I know he needs more too. I release his hands, and we are a frenzy of buttons, zippers, and clothes tossed every direction. I’ve barely wiggled out of my jeans when I grab his neck and start kissing him again. We’re skin to skin, and he starts to position himself for me to enter him.  
  
“I want you inside me,” I say, and I flip us over with one swift movement so that he’s on top of me. His green eyes blaze with such intensity as he enters me, that I almost completely lose it right then. He moans against my neck as he starts to move, but I feel him holding back. Neither one of us are going to last long, so we might as well go for it. “Faster, baby,” I say. He picks up the pace, pounding me right where he knows I want him, his grunts and moans driving me crazy with desire. I know I can’t contain it any longer. “Levi, I…” I start, but pulls out abruptly, lining his cock up with mine and gripping us both firmly in his hand. Just as I start to tremor, he throws back his head giving a drawn-out moan as his orgasm hits him. All the while he continues to move his hand, working us to completion. Finally, he collapses on top of me. We are a panting, sticky mess. I drop a kiss on his forehead, my hand running through his hair. There is nowhere I’d rather be.

  



End file.
